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The Optimist and the Pessimist
Peter J. Durow
A great way to infuse some good hearted humor into your concert program.
SATB a cappella
“The Optimist and the Pessimist” provides a wonderful opportunity for choirs to explore contrasts in musical style and engagement with the audience. A great way to infuse some good hearted humor into your concert program.
Composer’s Notes
The Optimist and the Pessimist uses text from two different authors. When I first came in contact with Ben King’s (1857-1894) poem The Pessimist, I loved the humor. I found versions of the poem published with various numbers of verses and varied order to the verses. The poem has also been published under the title – The Sum of Life. The genius of Ben King’s poem is that each stanza can be read in either a pessimistic or an optimistic point of view. Are we happy that we have work to do, food to eat, clothes to wear etc. etc. or are we gloomy about it? I knew that I didn’t want to title the piece The Pessimist so I looked for additional texts that would complement the poem and found Oscar Wilde’s (1854-1900) quote to be a perfect statement to open and close the composition.
– Peter J. Durow
Text
The optimist sees the donut, the pessimist sees the hole.
— Oscar Wilde
Nothing to do but work,
Nothing to eat but food,
Nothing to wear but clothes
To keep one from going nude.
Nothing to comb but hair,
Nowhere to sleep but in bed,
Nothing to weep but tears,
Nothing to bury but dead.
Nothing to read but words,
Nothing to cast but votes,
Nothing to hear but sounds,
Nothing to sail but boats.
Nothing to breathe but air,
Quick as a flash ‘tis gone;
Nowhere to fall but off,
Nowhere to stand but on.
Nothing to sing but songs,
Ah, well: Alas! Alack!
Nowhere to go but out,
Nowhere to come but back.
Nothing to see but sights,
Nothing to quench but thirst,
Nothing to have but what we’ve got;
Thus through life we are cursed.
Nothing to strike but a gait;
Ev’rything moves that goes;
Nothing at all but common sense
Can ever withstand these woes.
— Ben King
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